True Confessions

I have a confession to make. I am an angry mom...sometimes. Especially when I am running late or have committed myself to too much at one time, statements and actions of my kids can send me up the wall. Today when I was reading Ephesians 4, two verses stuck out to me.

"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity." (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Sometimes anger rises up inside all of us. Sometimes it is justified, like when Jesus turned the tables over in the temple. Sometimes it is my sinful and selfish nature wanting my way when someone else's conflicts with that will. However, no matter what the source of the anger, we make choices about what we will think about and how we will act.

I can choose not to sin in my anger and to deal with it quickly (before the sin goes down).

When I choose to dwell on things that make me angry, or act rashly out of anger, I give the devil an opportunity, an open door to wreak havoc on my life.

I am working toward being slow to grow angry, but when I get angry, my new approach is to breathe slowly for several seconds and think about if I would still be angry if I wasn't stressed out or running late. How would I handle the same situation if I was in front of other people? I, like everyone else, am living my life in front of an audience. I have two children who are almost constantly with me. But even when no human eyes are watching me, God is watching.